Background: I am working toward having a BerkeleyTIP installfest, which will be announced beyond the engineering community at Berkeley. Thus, people with little or no knowledge of GNU(Linux) will be alerted to this opportunity.

I believe it is beyond highly important, nee imperative, to have info for them to read beforehand, describing the opportunity it presents, & responsible practices (backup your data, be aware that unrecoverable problems might potentially occur, legal resease of liability, etc), to be aware of, to enable them to make an informed decision to step up to the power & freedoms of GNU/BSD free software.

Here are some examples I know of, of the type of info / forms I'm looking for:

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2) LUGOD - Note: this section is direct copy & paste of LUGOD info - it is for Reference Only. Links herein are _NOT_ for any (potential) BerkeleyTIP installfest!

2a) main installfest page: [Note: this section is direct copy & paste of LUGOD info - it is for
reference only. Links herein are _NOT_ for any (potential) BerkeleyTIP
installfest!]

What Is An Install Fest?

An Installfest is a free workshop held by Linux user groups like
ours. Computer users get together to help each other install and configure
the Linux operating system. Simply bring your personal computer to an
installfest and people will help you get Linux up and running on it,
for free! Note: You must RSVP first;
see the checklist below.

How to Help

If you'd like to help install Linux during an Installfest, or
just want to drop in and watch, you can!

Subscribe to 'vox-if'
We have a mailing list dedicated to preparing for Installfests.
Details from RSVPs are posted, and volunteers can discuss who's
going to help with what system, and try to track down necessary
information before the actual event.

How to Help
Who to contact if you'd like to volunteer, and other things you
can do to help make these events successful!

LUGOD INSTALLFEST RELEASE FORM

By signing this release agreement between you and the groups
holding the installfest (members of the Linux Users' Group of Davis,
Sacramento Linux Users Group and Roseville Area Linux Users Group)
(hereinafter referred to as Installers), you give up certain
legal rights. Therefore, you should read the agreement carefully.
If you have any questions about the legal effect of this agreement,
you should consult an attorney and not any of the Installers.

By signing this release agreement, you acknowledge the following:

That your signing this agreement is partial consideration for the
services provided by Installers.

That Installers do not promise that the work done on your computer
equipment will be successful. An Installer will help you attempt
to install, configure, or otherwise get the Linux operating system
to work on your computer equipment. However, because of possible
defects in computer software or computer hardware, including
improperly configured computer hardware, not every attempt is
successful.

That the attempt to install, configure, or otherwise get the
Linux operating system to work on your computer equipment has inherent
dangers that no amount of care, caution, instruction, or expertise
can eliminate. That any attempt to install, configure, or otherwise
get the Linux operating system to work on your computer equipment,
especially including any attempt to partition or re-partition your
computer's hard drive, may result in the loss of some or all of the
data stored on that hard drive. That you are hereby advised that you
should back up all important data before the attempt to install,
configure or otherwise get the Linux operating system to work on your
computer equipment.

That you are expressly assuming the risks of the dangers set forth
above.

That by signing this release agreement, you hereby forever release
the Installers from any legal liability
they might have arising from the attempt to install, configure, or
otherwise get the Linux operating system to run on your computer
equipment. That this release includes, but is not limited to, any
losses caused by the negligence of any Installer who attempts to
install, configure or otherwise get the Linux operating system to work
on your computer.

2d) Several more info pages from LUGOD - NOTE: For reference only - [Note: this section is direct copy & paste of LUGOD info - it is for
reference only. Info & Links herein are _NOT_ for any (potential) BerkeleyTIP
installfest!]

INSTALLFEST - REQUIREMENTS

If you have something that doesn't fit these needs, don't give up yet - please
double-check with us in case there's something we can use with your system.

=====

INSTALLFEST - PC REQUIREMENTS

Due to how quickly things change, we cannot guarantee the accuracy of
this document.

CPU

'386 CPU or higher

Some distributions require '586/Pentium or higher (eg, Mandrake)

RAM

Some distributions of Linux can run on a system with as little as
4MB of RAM

A minimum of 16MB is generally recommended

32MB is recommended for a graphical install

The more, the better!

CDROM

Nearly all Linux installations are on CD media. If you don't have
a CDROM drive, contact us and we'll see if we can still help.

Hard Disk Space

Some distributions run off of a floppy disk, but they're not usually
meant for general use.

At a very minimum, some Linux distributions can fit in as little as 20MB.

The smallest space we recommend trying to fit Linux into is
500MB

For a more usable system, at least 2GB is useful

The more, the better!

Input/Output Devices

Most styles of keyboards and mice are supported

Currently, USB devices might be an issue (they are
currently not fully supported under the 'stable' versions of Linux (versus
the 'development' versions))

Joysticks and joypads, touch pads, and many other devices
are supported to varying degrees

Video

Many, many video cards are supported, including some of the newer
3D accellarated cards. Bring your manuals, though!

Most monitors can be made to work well under Linux. Bring your
manuals!

Sound

Most soundcards work to varying degrees under Linux.

Network Peripherals

Most Winmodems are not supported ("Winmodems" are
very cheap internal modems; for info, see:
Linmodems.org))

Other than that, we can probably figure out your modem or network
card (eventually)

Other

Zip drives and most tape drives are supported.

PalmOS devices are supported.

Many digital cameras and scanners are supported to
varying degrees.

Got anything else? Ask us and we'll find out!

Note: If you're wondering to yourself why some hardware is so
poorly supported under Linux, realize that this is due to the manufacturers
not releasing drivers, or even specifications, for their hardware.
Many companies are changing this policy and supporting Linux.
On the other hand, other companies go so far as suing developers who
are reverse-engineering hardware so it can be used under Linux!

Back up any important data on your hard disk! There is a
chance that you can lose some or all of your data and programs
when trying to install Linux, or even while transporting your computer
to and from the Installfest!

If you plan to partition (divide) your hard disk, so that you can
share the disk between another Operating System (like Windows)
and Linux, run a disk error-checking tool
and then a disk defragmenter immediately
prior to coming.

INSTALLFEST - WHAT TO BRING

You need to bring more than just your CPU! LUGOD does
not have any extra equipment to lend!

It is also recommended that
you bring your own copy of a Linux distribution.

Bring your monitor,
keyboard,
mouse,
power cords
and a surge protector! You must
bring these, of course, otherwise we can't even turn your computer on
to install Linux on it! :^)

If you have a laptop with an external
CDROM drive, you need to bring it.
(If you have an external floppy drive, bringing that can help,
as well.)

Come with a good idea of which Linux distribution you'd like installed.
Although LUGOD has copies of many different versions of Linux, our
collection is limited - we can't guarantee that we have what you want,
nor do we always have the latest version of a distribution. It's very
useful to bring your own distro. (Besides, if you have your own
copy, you will always have access to the CDs and manuals in case you need to
restore, reinstall, or add more software when you're on your own!
Most distributions provide tech. support if you bought your copy, too!)

If you'd like to configure printing during the installfest, bring your
printer.

If you want to make sure sound gets configured, be sure to bring
speakers or headphones.

If you'd like to configure other peripherals
(joystick, touchpad, etc.), bring those, too!

Bring your manuals, if you have them!

If you have a network card, bring one. We hope to
have network connectivity at our Installfest location, and can install
the latest packages if you want or need to.

Bring a network cable, if you want to install packages off of
the Internet, and/or test your network connectivity.

Mac users, if you'd like to set up MOL (Mac On Linux) so you can run
MacOS from within Linux/PPC, please bring your Mac installation
media and/or system disks. (You may need this anyway, if you
wish to partition a drive or use other tools.)

Bring a good book, GameBoy, or something else to keep you
occupied in case things get boring for a while. ;^)

Bring at leastone blank 3.5" floppy
disk for when you're asked to make a rescue boot disk during
installation.

The Regular Place

Note there are also Linux installfests hosted twice monthly by
CABAL at Rick & Deirdre's
house in Menlo Park, as well as ones conducted occasionally by
LUGOD (Davis),
SlugLUG (Santa Cruz),
NBLUG (Sebastopol), and
EBLUG (Fremont).

General Procedures

The event itself is usually unformatted — no pre-set schedule of activities. When you arrive, check with the
installfest personnel
on where to set up your system. We try to keep people with new installations together,
and people with troubleshooting issues together. Then, go to work. Our gurus will be there to help.
Feel free to ask any question.

There is no fixed schedule of activities, though occasionally we will have
an expert come give a mini-seminar on his or her area of expertise.

Due to the finite size of the work area, we ask that you be prepared to share tables with other installers.

What To Do

Bring your machine, including monitor and anything else it needs to
work.

Bring a power strip. If we have a shortage of outlets, people who
bring power strips get priority at the wall outlets.

Whether you are doing a new Linux install or just an upgrade, make a backup
of your current system before you come. If something goes wrong,
we want to be sure that you lose nothing critical.

If you are installing a new version of Linux, bring your installation CD
and documentation. (Some Intel-based installation CDs may be there for you
to use, but don't depend absolutely on it.)

We will have a 100baseT local-area network hooked up among our machines,
so bring your NICs!

If you have one, bring an Ethernet hub. Since attendance is somewhat
unpredictable, it doesn't hurt to have several extras. (Be sure to ask before
connecting it: We want a topology where one hub is just for other hubs to
connect to, and ideally only one-hub-deep connections from there. Some distant
parts of the room may need an extra hub for that area.)

Some regular participants have found it handy to make a box of stuff they
regularly bring to the installfests.

What Not To Do

Don't count on others to have spare monitors, power cables, keyboards,
mice, non-Intel Linux distributions, etc... although if you intended to bring
them and forgot, ask around before driving back home to get them.

Our hours of operation are 11am to 4pm. Don't arrive at 3:00 and expect
to get much accomplished before we have to shut down for the day.

Some Issues we attack

(Thanks to Alvin for this text
— even though some of what follows is a bit outdated, by now.)